Barn Stars Added to Festival Quilt Auction

In an initiative started in 2016 by the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, quilt auction bidders will again be afforded the opportunity to take home one of four four-foot barn stars that will be painted throughout the nine days of the festival.  Led by Heritage Center director Patrick Donmoyer, visitors will be able to watch the progression of the stars each day as Donmoyer and fellow artists work on the classic PA Dutch motifs high above the crowd. In exact representation, the stars are painted on each side of a four-sided wood structure, representing the process of how the well-known barn stars and hex signs are painted directly on the area’s barns. Assisting Donmoyer will be legendary second generation barn star painter Eric Claypool and up-and-coming apprentice Andrew Shirk.

Winning bidders will not only be taking home a fantastic piece of PA Dutch folk art, they will also be aiding in the restoration of the area's barn stars. 100% of the final selling price will be donated to the Heritage Center and the Dutch Hex Tour Association. The Hex Tour, a small non-profit organization, assists barn owners with financing for the restoration and repainting of the stars on their barns.  The four stars, painted directly on wood barn siding, have been ingeniously designed for easy disassembling and will fit in most any mid-sized car for transport home.

This year’s quilt auction will take place July 7th at 12:00 PM on the Festival’s Main Stage. The auction of quilts and barn stars can be previewed in person or on the Kutztown Folk Festival’s website in the 2018 Quilt Auction Gallery and also on Zettlemoyer Auction company’s website, www.zettauction.com(link is external). Absentee bidding is permitted for those wishing to place bids but who are unable to attend.